At a campaign stop in Nevada Tuesday, Hillary Clinton is expected to call for a path to citizenship for the roughly 11 million immigrants currently in the U.S. illegally.
The former secretary of state and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee frontrunner will “join a roundtable of young Nevadans who are personally affected by our broken immigration system” at Rancho High School — which is about 70 percent Hispanic — in Las Vegas, her campaign said Sunday.
“She will say that the standard for a true solution is nothing less than a full and equal path to citizenship,” a Clinton aide said Tuesday in a preview of her remarks. “She will say that we cannot settle for proposals that provide hardworking people with merely a ‘second-class’ status.”
The campaign stop is expected to set the stage for her immigration policy going forward. It will also challenge the GOP and more specifically, all-but-declared presidential candidate Jeb Bush.
The former Florida governor is seen as someone who strongly appeals to Hispanics due to his open mind toward illegal immigrants currently in the U.S.
“Clinton will talk about her commitment to fixing our broken immigration system by passing comprehensive immigration reform that provides a path to citizenship, treats everyone with dignity and compassion, upholds the rule of law, protects our border and national security, and brings millions of hardworking people out of the shadows and into the formal economy so they can pay taxes and contribute to our nation’s prosperity,” the aide said.
The Hispanic vote — though always an important one nationwide — was subsequent in Nevada in the 2012 presidential election. Eighteen percent of voters in Nevada were Hispanic in 2012, compared to 10 percent nationwide, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. President Obama won the Hispanic vote over Republican Mitt Romney, 71 percent to 27 percent.
(h/t WSJ)
